I love Thalia, so I'm at least happy to see that they made her (probably) standard-playable. She seems decent, and I think she deserves some playtesting and will probably give her a chance. I'm somewhat excited, but not yet blown away.
She does help versus Kiki/Resto combo, delays decks such as 8-whack, and she might have some more decent or fringe uses. But I'm at this point doubting whether she'd be a good maindeck. Will be interesting to see what others think about the card and how it proves useful in playtesting.
She seems pretty amazing against the field slowing down fetchlands in particular. Opponents fetching basics just means your ghost quarters are more often strip mines even without leonin arbiter in play.
However note that this slows down but does not stop the kiki/resto combo since they can still combo off at EoT and untap with everything on their turn.
Nevermind, the Kiki comes into play tapped this is awesome!
It also happens to prevent etched champion from equipping a cranial plating. If you play eight-and-a-half-tails or mirran crusader, painter's servant naming the appropriate color can be pretty good too as long as you can protect your painter's servant.
I always assume opponents will never "fall for it" and that they will play correctly around mindcensor. It is a flash threat that neuters some decks that can't handle it so I think it is well worth 1 or 2 slots. Occasionally they are sloppy and will lead to a blow out but I wouldn't expect that to be the norm.
Playing a turn 1 hierarch into turn 2 untapped temple garden can really warp how your opponents play too, even if you don't have mindcensor in hand just to bluff it.
We don't play that many EtB effects but it can protect a creature from a removal spell or reset an arbiter to make an opponent pay 2 more mana to search.
I've run eight-and-a-half-tails. It pushes mirran crusader through one or two blockers and especially lingering souls tokens. The WW casting cost is not the best in GW hatebears but you would rarely want to play it turn 2 anyway. It also protects smiter from path, which is one of the main things that can kill it. It didn't especially over-perform for me and is relegated to the sideboard for grindier matches.
Vryn Wingmare might see play but I'm skeptical on Archangel of Tithes. 3 white is not trivial for GW hatebears and her tax doesn't seem that great. It notably does not stop Twin since their last copy can tap her down.
It's funny, on MTGO most people just don't know how Arbiter works and think they get a trigger notification if they want to pay but then it's already too late and the fetch is gone. I really win a lot of games due to that.
But indeed it's a bit strange as it is a special action and can be paid at ANY time but as things with priority are very exact on MTGO it is really a thing one can forget. In paper magic you just pay it before somehow, it is more or less just clear. So, if someone in paper magic says "fetch" passing priority and you say "ok" is it then too late for him to pay the cost? Did he already miss it as there no chance of getting priority again before the fetch resolves?
Yes that's right. At competitive REL any judge will back you up that the opponent missed their opportunity to pay for Arbiter. The action of picking up the deck is also sufficient for missing payment. At fnm probably not.
I think Collected Company can be useful only in SB to improve the deck against control/combos, when the right hatebear can change the game. In MD I prefer wilt leaf liege, restoration angel, linvala or baneslayer, that have a good impact too.
Additionally, in decks with Collected Company I suggest 1-2 Burrenton Forge-Tender or Dauntless Escort in SB to avoid sweepers.
Can't say I agree with this. Coco is probably better to play post sweeper than to potentially whiff on your sb creatures
2 Hatebears in the last SCG, but one is actually GW Taxes and I don't understand some choices in the other list... Dryad Arbor over Stirring Wildwood? The singleton Phyrexian Revoker?
Dryad arbor can be vialed in on turn 1 (vial at 0). Which provides pretty good mana ramp while still advancing your vial for tricks. Revoker seems to just be a catch-all that does some work against a lot of decks especially twin -- naming pestermite/deceiver/kiki/lavamancer.
Suppression Field is ultimately a meta call, as it's strength lies in combating planeswalkers, DRS, fetches, lavamancer, gavony, twin, vial decks, etc. Will also eat abrupt decays quite well. In an infect driven meta, I would advise against maining it, and probably use either a vial or more removal. As you probably know, blanking their spells on ourturn is normally the better decision. I would love melira, but she's very specific as far as hate goes.
I think it's fine to run 4x maindeck if your plan is to combo it with Leonin Arbiter and Knight of the Holy Nimbus. Unfortunately it's quite a non-bo with ghost quarter, tec edge, spellskite, stirring wildwood etc.
If I see six lands in a row after T4 I'll be glad to put them all on the bottom of my library.
You're just as likely to see 6 non-lands in a row... and you don't have an option to keep any on top of your library. The next card you draw is still random.
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She seems pretty amazing against the field slowing down fetchlands in particular. Opponents fetching basics just means your ghost quarters are more often strip mines even without leonin arbiter in play.
However note that this slows down but does not stop the kiki/resto combo since they can still combo off at EoT and untap with everything on their turn.Nevermind, the Kiki comes into play tapped this is awesome!
Playing a turn 1 hierarch into turn 2 untapped temple garden can really warp how your opponents play too, even if you don't have mindcensor in hand just to bluff it.
Thalia sets them back a turn or so too.
Yes that's right. At competitive REL any judge will back you up that the opponent missed their opportunity to pay for Arbiter. The action of picking up the deck is also sufficient for missing payment. At fnm probably not.
Can't say I agree with this. Coco is probably better to play post sweeper than to potentially whiff on your sb creatures
Dryad arbor can be vialed in on turn 1 (vial at 0). Which provides pretty good mana ramp while still advancing your vial for tricks. Revoker seems to just be a catch-all that does some work against a lot of decks especially twin -- naming pestermite/deceiver/kiki/lavamancer.
Mindcensor doesn't affect our fetches...
I think it's fine to run 4x maindeck if your plan is to combo it with Leonin Arbiter and Knight of the Holy Nimbus. Unfortunately it's quite a non-bo with ghost quarter, tec edge, spellskite, stirring wildwood etc.
You're just as likely to see 6 non-lands in a row... and you don't have an option to keep any on top of your library. The next card you draw is still random.